I'm with you, JimT. And I think there is a generational aspect to this. Heck, young people believe all recorded music is open source. My daughter for years paid for every song. But after years of watching her friends download absolutely everything, she began to feel like a sap.

I think you're right, Rob--VR does seem like a no-brainer application for the type of free-handed, individualized experimentation and exploration that open source development encourages. It's interesting that both you and AnandY said essentially the same thing about not being employees of a large company: that may be relevant not only for access to technology but especially for creative freedom or the lack thereof.

Jim, I agree with your observation. Moving forward, corporate marketing needs to rethink the impact of open source technology and how their financial models and business decisions can be adjusted to take advantage of this new paradigm.

This technology will provide the young generation with an opportunity for simulating software using their resources. The need to be employees of large firms is therefore greatly reduced. It is also an efficient mechanism for reducing the costs associated with experimental hardware and software.

Open source is great at reducing the costs of experimental hardware and software. Looks like that trend is making inroads into VR as well as robotics and other areas. I'd be surprised if it hasn't hit games yet.

A few weeks ago, Ford Motor Co. quietly announced that it was rolling out a new wrinkle to the powerful safety feature called stability control, adding even more lifesaving potential to a technology that has already been very successful.

It won't be too much longer and hardware design, as we used to know it, will be remembered alongside the slide rule and the Karnaugh map. You will need to move beyond those familiar bits and bytes into the new world of software centric design.

People who want to take advantage of solar energy in their homes no longer need to install a bolt-on solar-panel system atop their houses -- they can integrate solar-energy-harvesting shingles directing into an existing or new roof instead.

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